U.S. patent application number 16/239883 was filed with the patent office on 2020-07-09 for multi-lens parallax camera system.
The applicant listed for this patent is IVS, INC., dba ANGELTRAX. Invention is credited to RICHIE HOWARD.
Application Number | 20200221041 16/239883 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 71405268 |
Filed Date | 2020-07-09 |
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00000.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00001.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00002.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00003.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00004.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00005.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00006.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00007.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00008.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00009.png)
![](/patent/app/20200221041/US20200221041A1-20200709-D00010.png)
View All Diagrams
United States Patent
Application |
20200221041 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HOWARD; RICHIE |
July 9, 2020 |
MULTI-LENS PARALLAX CAMERA SYSTEM
Abstract
A multi-lens parallax camera system includes a bracket which
includes a first plane, a second plane, and a third plane; wherein
the first and the second planes respectively have a first opening
and a second opening, and the third plane is interposed between the
first and the second planes and symmetrically connects the first
and the second planes. The multi-lens parallax camera system
further includes a first camera and a second camera which are
symmetrically and respectively mounted in and protruded from the
first opening and the second opening. The first and the second
cameras both have a first angle of view and generate a first image
and a second image, respectively, the part of the first image and
the second image having parallax forms an overlapping area; and a
processor seamlessly stitches the first and the second images
together to form a seamless wide-angle image.
Inventors: |
HOWARD; RICHIE; (NEWTON,
AL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
IVS, INC., dba ANGELTRAX |
DOTHAN |
AL |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
71405268 |
Appl. No.: |
16/239883 |
Filed: |
January 4, 2019 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 5/3415 20130101;
B60R 2300/105 20130101; H04N 5/2259 20130101; H04N 5/23238
20130101; B60R 2300/8006 20130101; G06T 7/97 20170101 |
International
Class: |
H04N 5/341 20060101
H04N005/341; H04N 5/225 20060101 H04N005/225; H04N 5/232 20060101
H04N005/232; G06T 7/00 20060101 G06T007/00 |
Claims
1. A multi-lens parallax camera system including: a housing; a
bracket enclosed by the housing and including: a first plane having
a first opening; a second plane having a second opening; and a
third plane interposed between the first plane and the second plane
and symmetrically connecting the first plane and the second plane;
a first camera enclosed by the housing; and a second camera
enclosed by the housing; wherein the first camera and the second
camera are symmetrically and respectively mounted in and protruded
from the first opening and the second opening.
2. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the first opening and the second opening respectively have
a first opening center and a second opening center, the first
opening center and the second opening center are respectively the
geometric center of the first opening and the geometric center of
the second opening, the first camera and the second camera
respectively have a first optical axis and a second optical axis,
the first optical axis and the second optical axis are respectively
perpendicular to the first plane and the second plane, and the
first optical axis and the second optical axis respectively pass
through the geometric center of the first opening and the geometric
center of the second opening.
3. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the bracket, the first plane, the second plane, and the
third plane are made of metallic materials, plastic materials or a
combination thereof.
4. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the first camera and the second camera both have a first
angle of view; the first camera and the second camera respectively
generate a first image and a second image, and the part of the
first image and the second image having parallax forms an
overlapping area.
5. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 4,
wherein the multi-lens parallax camera system further includes an
image processing software executed by a processor to seamlessly
stitch the first image and the second image together to form and
output a seamless wide-angle image.
6. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the bracket further includes a segmented light source which
has a multitude of light emitting diodes disposed on the first
plane, the second plane, and the third plane to provide
illumination with evenly distributed brightness.
7. The multi-lens parallax camera system as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the bracket further includes two microphones, and the two
microphones, respectively corresponding to the first camera and the
second camera, and are disposed on the first plane and the second
plane to receive sounds from two different directions.
8. A method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems,
wherein N multi-lens parallax camera systems as claimed in claim 1
are respectively disposed on N geometrically symmetric positions in
a periphery of a monitored space to avoid dead angles or
inadvertent blocking by objects while monitoring, where N is an
integer greater than or equal to 2.
9. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 8, wherein the first opening and the second
opening respectively have a first opening center and a second
opening center, the first opening center and the second opening
center are respectively the geometric center of the first opening
and the geometric center of the second opening, the first camera
and the second camera respectively have a first optical axis and a
second optical axis, the first optical axis and the second optical
axis are respectively perpendicular to the first plane and the
second plane, and the first optical axis and the second optical
axis respectively pass through the geometric center of the first
opening and the geometric center of the second opening.
10. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 8, wherein the bracket, the first plane, the
second plane, and the third plane are made of metallic materials,
plastic materials or a combination thereof.
11. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 8, wherein the first camera and the second camera
both have a first angle of view; the first camera and the second
camera respectively generate a first image and a second image, and
the part of the first image and the second image having parallax
forms an overlapping area.
12. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 11, wherein each multi-lens parallax camera system
further includes an image processing software executed by a
processor to seamlessly stitch the first image and the second image
together to form and output a seamless wide-angle image.
13. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 8, wherein the bracket further includes a
segmented light source which has multiple light emitting diodes
disposed on the first plane, the second plane, and the third plane
to provide illumination with evenly distributed brightness.
14. The method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems as
claimed in claim 8, wherein the bracket further includes two
microphones, and the two microphones, respectively corresponding to
the first camera and the second camera, are mounted on the first
plane and the second plane to receive sounds from two different
directions.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a parallax camera system,
and particularly to a multi-lens parallax camera system applied for
use in the interior of buses for surveillance purposes.
Surveillance recordings are common in passenger buses to assist in
training bus operators, investigating complaints, and accident
investigations.
2. Description of the Related Art
[0002] The current use of wide-angle cameras and/or fisheye cameras
allows for wider field of view (FOV) in video cameras inside or
outside mobile vehicles and fixed locations. A wider field of view
allows a single camera to receive a wider image which may allow the
use of fewer cameras to cover a bus interior. Cameras with wide
angle lenses are typically those that provide a wider field of view
than the human eye. When taken to an extreme these cameras produce
a "fisheye" effect with distortions particularly at the periphery
of the image. This distortion may render face recognition or
movements by people or objects difficult or impossible to identify.
Many mobile or vehicle applications of wide-angle cameras are based
upon cameras that initially were introduced for interior and
exterior surveillance services inside or outside buildings and
fixed facilities built with high ceilings. In addition, a single
surveillance wide angle camera, commonly called a 360 degree
camera, in a limited space with a low ceiling like the interior of
a bus, etc. will sometimes fail to monitor events, because, a
standing person may block the view of an incident, and in addition,
360 degree video cameras in surveillance service also contain audio
microphones and a single microphone position often proves
inadequate for an incident investigation due to lack of proximity
to the received sounds since a single microphone can't resolve the
relative directions between audio sources and the microphone.
[0003] When it comes to capturing interior images of a vehicle such
as a bus, using the wide-angle non-fisheye camera remains a
possible choice because it is capable of capturing images with a
larger FOV with excellent Depth of Field (DOF) in such a limited
space with low ceiling.
[0004] In general, for fixed sensor size (full frame, APS-C, and so
on) and fixed focal length, the FOV (diagonal, horizontal or
vertical) of a wide angle camera is larger than the FOV in an
ordinary camera, and the larger the ratio between the two FOVs is,
the more distorted the captured images are, especially at
periphery.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In view of the above-mentioned limitations of the
conventional wide angle "fisheye" cameras, an objective of the
present invention is to ameliorate the image distortion problems
caused by the conventional wide-angle or fisheye cameras.
[0006] Accordingly, the present invention proposes a multi-lens
parallax camera system to solve these limitations by utilizing
multiple standard non-fisheye lens cameras to reduce the required
angle of view for each camera so as to minimize the image
distortion thereof. The present invention also proposes using an
image processing method to stitch together the images captured by
each one of the multiple cameras to come up with a seamless wide
image such that the parallax issue in the overlapped portion of the
captured images is simultaneously resolved. The present invention
also proposes deploying a plurality of the multi-lens parallax
camera systems of the present invention at symmetrical positions to
fully cover a limited space such as the interior of a bus and the
like, so as to minimize the potential possibility of failing to
capture certain incidences. Each strategically mounted parallax
camera contains at least two microphones solving the audio
proximity problem and eliminates the fisheye distortion of the
recorded images. This prevents the distorted video images from the
wide angle fisheye cameras. Because each multi-lens parallax camera
has a minimum of a 180 degree field of view, it is virtually
impossible for standing passengers to block the recording of an
event. And, because there are no fisheye lenses incorporated in the
parallax cameras, there is no distortion and all faces, events, and
actions are recognizable.
[0007] One of the aforesaid objectives can be achieved by the
multi-lens parallax camera system which is described as
follows:
[0008] A multi-lens parallax camera system includes:
[0009] a housing;
[0010] a bracket enclosed by the housing and including: [0011] a
first plane having a first opening; [0012] a second plane having a
second opening; and [0013] a third plane interposed between the
first plane and the second plane and symmetrically connecting the
first plane and the second plane;
[0014] a first camera enclosed by the housing; and
[0015] a second camera enclosed by the housing;
[0016] wherein the first camera and the second camera are
symmetrically and respectively mounted in and protruded from the
first opening and the second opening.
[0017] Another one of the aforesaid objectives can be achieved by
the multi-lens parallax camera system which is described as
follows:
[0018] A method for mounting multi-lens parallax camera systems,
wherein N multi-lens parallax camera systems as described above are
respectively mounted on N geometrically symmetric positions in a
periphery of a monitored space to avoid dead angles or inadvertent
blocking by objects while monitoring, where N is an integer greater
than or equal to 2.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] FIG. 1A shows a schematic of an internal structure of a
multi-lens parallax camera system of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 1B shows a schematic of a bracket structure of the
multi-lens parallax camera system of the present invention;
[0021] FIG. 1C shows a cross-section of a bracket structure of the
multi-lens parallax camera system of the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 2A shows a schematic of the appearance of the
multi-lens parallax camera system and the angle of view of a first
camera of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 2B shows a schematic of the appearance of the
multi-lens parallax camera system and the angle of view of a second
camera of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 2C shows a schematic of a combined viewing angle and
circuits of the multi-lens parallax camera system of the present
invention;
[0025] FIG. 3A shows examples of a first image and a second image
before the stitching;
[0026] FIG. 3B shows examples of the first image and the second
image during the progress of the stitching;
[0027] FIG. 3C shows examples of the first image and the second
image after the stitching;
[0028] FIG. 4 shows a segmented LED light source of the multi-lens
parallax camera system of the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 5 shows the multi-lens parallax camera system of the
present invention using two microphones;
[0030] FIG. 6 shows the disposition diagram of two multi-lens
parallax camera systems of the present invention; and
[0031] FIG. 7 shows the disposition diagram of four multi-lens
parallax camera systems of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0032] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be
better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction
with the following description and the accompanying drawings.
[0033] With reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, according to a first
embodiment of the present invention, a multi-lens parallax camera
system 1 includes a housing 3 (not shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, see FIGS.
2A, 2B, 2C), a bracket 10, a first camera 20, and a second camera
30. The first camera 20 and the second camera 30 are symmetrically
mounted on the bracket 10. The bracket 10 includes a first plane 11
and a second plane 12. The first plane 11 and the second plane 12
respectively have a first opening 110 and a second opening 120,
wherein the first opening 110 and the second opening 120
respectively have a first opening center 111 and a second opening
center 121, wherein the first opening center 111 is the geometric
center of the first opening 110. For example, when the first
opening 110 is circular, the first opening center 111 is the center
of the circle, and likewise, the second opening center 121 is the
geometric center of the second opening 120. There is a first
distance d between the first opening center 111 and the second
opening center 121. The bracket 10 includes a third plane 13
interposed between the first plane 11 and the second plane 12 and
symmetrically connected to the first plane 11 and the second plane
12. With reference to FIG. 1C, a cross-section of the bracket 10 is
demonstrated to indicate that the third plane 13 and the first
plane 11 form a first angle .theta.1, the third plane 13 and the
second plane 12 form a second angle .theta.2, and the extensions of
the first plane 11 and the second plane 12 form a third angle
.theta.3, wherein the first angle .theta.1 and the second angle
.theta.2 are equal in ordinary cases. With reference to FIG. 1B,
the first camera 20 and the second camera 30 are, respectively and
symmetrically, fixed and protruded from the first opening 110 and
the second opening 120. The first camera 20 and the second camera
30 respectively have a first optical axis 21 and a second optical
axis 22. The first optical axis 21 and the second optical axis 22
are respectively perpendicular to the first plane 11 and the second
plane 12, and also pass through the first opening center 111 and
the second opening center 121. The bracket 10, the first plane 11,
the second plane 12, and the third plane 13 are made of metallic
materials such as steel, copper, aluminum, metal alloy or plastic
materials such as Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), acrylic, Polycarbonates
(PC), or a combination thereof. The first camera 20 and the second
camera 30 are identical digital cameras each with a lens.
[0034] With reference to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, the multi-lens parallax
camera system 1 is equipped with a housing 3, the housing 3
enclosing the bracket 10, and the first and the second cameras 20,
30. The first camera 20 and the second camera 30 have an identical
first angle of view 51. Under the first angle of view 51, the first
camera 20 and the second camera 30 can respectively generate a
first image 81 and a second image 82 (not shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B,
2C, see FIG. 3A). The first image 81 and the second image 82 have
an image overlapping area 83 (not shown in FIG. 2, see FIG. 3A),
and in the image overlapping area 83, there exists a phenomenon of
parallax which indicates that if an image of an object is located
in the image overlapping area 83, then the images of the same
object captured respectively by the first camera 20 and the second
camera 30 are different from each other due to different
perspectives. The multi-lens parallax camera system 1 further
includes a processor 40 such as a general CPU, a microcontroller, a
digital signal processor, an image processor, or a combination
thereof, and the processor 40 is electrically connected to the
first camera 20 and the second camera 30 via signal lines 41, and
thereby the processor 40 is to respectively receive the information
of the first image 81 and the second image 82 from the first camera
20 and the second camera 30.
[0035] With reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, after receiving the
information of the first image 81 and the second image 82, the
processor 40 integrates the first image 81 and the second image 82
into a seamless wide-angle image 84 by an imaging processing
algorithm FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C demonstrate the stitching from beginning
to the end; afterwards the wide viewing angle image 84 is further
processed and encoded into a general digital image format file such
as GIF, JPEG, MPEG, etc., and then output, for playback or storage,
via an I/O port to a display device such as an LCD and the like, or
a memory device such as SRAM, DRAM, or FLASH MEMORY and the like.
The above-mentioned imaging processing algorithm is, for example, a
cylindrical projection splicing algorithm, which firstly projects
the first image 81 and the second image 82 onto a cylindrical
surface, and then fuses the overlapping area 83 of the first image
81 and the second image 82 on the surface of the cylinder to
produce the seamless wide viewing angle image 84.
[0036] With reference to FIG. 2C again, the seamless image 84,
generated by the integration of the first image 81 and the second
image 82, has a combined viewing angle 52, for example, assuming
the first angle of view 51 is 104.degree. and the combined viewing
angle 52 is 189.degree.. Then, it can be inferred that the two
cameras have an overlapping viewing angle 53 which is corresponding
to the image overlapping area 83. Hence, the overlapping viewing
angle 53 is equal to the sum of the individual wide viewing angles
51 of the two wide-angle cameras minus the combined viewing angle
52, i.e. 104.degree.+104.degree.-189.degree.=19.degree., hence the
overlapping viewing angle 53 of the first camera 20 and the second
camera 30 is 19.degree..
[0037] With reference to FIG. 4, according to a second embodiment
of the present invention, the multi-lens parallax camera system 1
is equipped with a light source such as a light-emitting diode
(LED) light source 71, which can emit visible light, infrared
light, ultraviolet light, or a combination thereof, for taking
pictures in nighttime or dim situations, and this embodiment also
adopts a segmented disposition of the LED light sources 71 in such
a way that the LEDs of the LED light source 71 are respectively
disposed on the first plane 11, the second plane 12, and the third
plane 13 to make the brightness of illumination evenly distributed.
And the housing 3 of the multi-lens parallax camera system 1 is
designed accordingly to be transparent to allow the light from the
LED light sources 71 to pass through.
[0038] With reference to FIG. 5, according to a third embodiment of
the present invention, the multi-lens parallax camera system 1 is
provided with two microphones 91 corresponding to the two cameras,
respectively, and sounds from two different directions can be
obtained via the two microphones 91. For example, the two
microphones 91 are respectively disposed on the first plane 11 and
the second plane 12 corresponding to the locations of the first
camera 20 and the second camera 30, so that the two microphones 91
can receive the sounds from two different directions. The audio
analog signals of the sounds received by the two microphones 91 are
respectively converted into digital signals by ADC circuits and
then transmitted to the processor 40. After receiving the digital
signals of the sounds, the processor 40 can perform further signal
processing on the received audio signals and encode the processed
results into a general digital audio format such as MIDI, WAV, MP3,
etc. for playback or storage.
[0039] With reference to FIG. 6, according to a fourth embodiment
of the present invention, two independent multi-lens parallax
camera systems 1 are respectively mounted at opposite positions on
the periphery of a limited space, so that the two independent
multi-lens parallax camera systems 1 are less likely to be
constantly or inadvertently blocked by objects in the limited
space; thus the two independent multi-lens parallax camera systems
1 are more reliable in monitoring incidences happening in the
limited space. For example, the above two independent multi-lens
parallax camera systems 1 can be disposed at the symmetry positions
such as 61, 62, 63 or 64 in FIG. 6.
[0040] With reference to FIG. 7, according to a fifth embodiment of
the present invention, four independent multi-lens parallax camera
systems 1 are provided, which are respectively disposed at four
symmetric positions on the periphery of a limited space, so that
the four independent multi-lens parallax camera systems 1 are less
likely to be constantly or inadvertently blocked by objects in the
limited space; thus the four independent multi-lens parallax camera
systems 1 are more reliable in monitoring incidences happening in
the limited space. For example, the above four independent
multi-lens parallax camera systems 1 can be disposed at the
symmetric positions such as 65 or 66 in FIG. 7.
[0041] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the
present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description,
together with details of the structure and function of the
invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made
in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of
parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent
indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the
appended claims are expressed.
* * * * *